| | | Subsection (d) provides a simplified means for proving health | | care expenses related to the birth of a child. Because | | ordinarily these charges are not in dispute, this is designed | | to obviate the cost of having health care providers appear in | | person or of obtaining affidavits of business records from | | each provider. |
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| | | Subsections (e) and (f) encourage tribunals and litigants to | | take advantage of modern methods of communication in | | interstate support litigation; most dramatically, the out-of- | | state party is authorized to testify by telephone and supply | | documents by fax. One of the most useful applications of these | | subsections has been the combining of (c) and (e) to provide | | an enforcing tribunal with up-to-date information concerning | | the amount of arrears. |
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| | | Subsection (g) codifies the rule in effect in many States that | | in civil litigation an adverse inference may be drawn from a | | litigant's silence. If a party refuses to submit to genetic | | testing, the refusal may be admitted into evidence and the | | court may resolve the question of paternity against that party | | on the basis of an inference that the results of the tests | | would have been unfavorable to the interests of the refusing | | party. |
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| | | Subsection (j), new in 2001, complies with the federally | | mandated procedure that every State must honor the | | "acknowledgment of paternity" validly made in another State. |
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| | | Sec. 26. 19-A MRSA §3017, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. B, §2 | | and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read: |
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| | | §3017. Communications between tribunals |
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| | | A tribunal of this State may communicate with a tribunal of | | another state or foreign country or political subdivision in | writing | information concerning the laws of that state | | effect of a judgment, decree or order of that tribunal; and | | the status of a proceeding in the other state or foreign | | country or political subdivision. A tribunal of this State | | may furnish similar information by similar means to a tribunal | | of another state or foreign country or political subdivision. |
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| | | (This is Section 317 of the Uniform Act.) |
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| | | This section authorizes communications between tribunals in | | order to facilitate decisions. The 2001 amendments extend the | | coverage of the section to tribunals of foreign nations. Broad | | cooperation between tribunals is permitted to expedite | | establishment and enforcement of a support order. |
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